Summary of Our Year
Science class begins with a review of standards 1-5 which are also covered in the 6th and 7th grade curriculum. These are the inquiry standards dealing with the steps of the scientific method, hypothesis, independent and dependent variables, and controlled experiments. This unit usually takes all of August to cover. From there we proceed to the engineering and technology unit (standards 6-9). This unit focuses on the steps of the engineering design process, their proper implementation, technology, and bioengineering. This second unit usually takes most of September. The third unit we will cover is chemistry (standards 15-25). This unit encompasses atomic structure, symbols, formulae, patterns in the periodic table, particle motion, chemical and physical changes, elements, compounds, mixtures, and acids and bases. This is by far the crux of our year. This chemistry unit will last from the end of September until Christmas break. From January til mid February we cover Physics. In this unit we survey magnetic fields, electromagnets, electromagnetic induction, mass and weight, density, gravity, and orbit. Finally, in March we cover biology as many students will take biology their freshman year. This unit covers classification, adaptations, biodiversity, and relative dating. Our state testing (The TCAP for now) is in late April or early May.
Classroom Procedures
We proceed through the standards mostly in numerical order with a few exceptions. As we finish a particular standard we will have a quiz over that standard. On quiz days, students are asked to turn in all work associated with the standard being tested that day. (All work is done in class and their is no homework with the exception of studying for tests and quizzes) Thus students receive two grades on a quiz day, one for their quiz and one for their work. All grades are based on points. At the end of each unit a cumulative test is given over the unit and any previous units covered. Because they are cumulative, tests get longer and harder as the year passes. The goal is to train the students to retain all of their learning for the state test at one time.